Police name man found with serious injuries near IU South Bend

by DJ Manou, WSBT 22 Reporter

Man found with serious injuries near Indiana University South Bend. // WSBT 22

THURSDAY UPDATE: The man found with serious injuries near IU South Bend has been identified by police as Jacob Singleton, 20, of Mishawaka. He remains in critical condition and police say Metro Homicide continues to investigate.

ORIGINAL STORY POSTED WEDNESDAY: A man in his early 20s is in critical condition after being found near the IU South Bend campus on 20th Street.

That prompted the university to issue an email to all students to be cautious.

Metro Homicide has taken over the case, but they haven't released much information about what happened.

We do know the man was not a student.

WSBT 22 did reach out to Metro Homicide, but got no response.

People we spoke to that live nearby say the crime is alarming.

Police got a call of an unconscious man next to this fire hydrant around 3 a.m. Wednesday.

He had serious injuries.

One man who wanted to remain anonymous says he saw several officers using buckets of water to wash the area where the man was found.

Janet Hill says she's shocked to hear about something like this happening right outside her front door.

"Being in this area, it’s always been a very safe area. It’s well-lit at night time. The Indiana University police department are right down the road. They’re constantly driving by all hours of the night and during the day,” said Hill.

The campus police did go through the neighborhood to talk to people.

Hill says she didn't hear anything and that makes her uncomfortable.

“It makes me feel a little bit uneasy. Kind of scared for my kids because you just never know what’s going to happen at any point,” said Hill.

Nathan Walkowski is a junior at IU South Bend and lives in the Annex right next door.

He got the email but had no idea how close it really was.

“Wow that’s really close to school for someone to get attacked. Honestly, I thought this was like a safer area. But honestly it was shocking,” said Walkowski.

He says it's hard to believe an incident would happen so close to the school.

“In the two years I’ve been going here, we haven’t gotten many push alerts on attacks like this. So this is new for me at least. If I got more evidence on why he was attacked, maybe I could feel safer or less safe depending on what they said, but yea it’s a concern,” said Walkowski.

Although school does not start for another two weeks, Walkowski says he expects more police to be patrolling now.

"I feel like the school makes it a priority to keep people safe, so we will probably see some changes around,” said Walkowski.

WSBT 22 did reach out to the school, but they did not want to comment.

An investigation is underway and Metro Homicide is asking anyone with information to call them.